Day 4 – A Glorious Day at Sea

Greetings Landlubbers…YE awoke to a magnificent, if a bit fresh, Great Keppel Island morning at 0630. Overnight the Youth Crew had taken their responsibilities of keeping the ship safe during anchor watches seriously…good to know they can be entrusted with such responsibility. After a quick game to get the minds and bodies warmed up, we enjoyed a delicious breakfast on the upper decks. At 0800 it was time to raise the flags, accompanied by all belting out the National Anthem. After hearing from Sailmaster Guv, Salty Adam, and myself, it was time for a dip and the pool was opened. Happy Hour followed, then James (Bagaz) gave his Navigation Brief. After another delicious lunch (we really are spoilt by the quality of food on here) it was time to weigh anchor and at 1245 we departed for Heron Island. Once clear of the Keppel Group, another round of rope races (focusing on the yard braces and mainsail) entertained all and then after some down time we completed rotational tacks, where each of the watches rotate through all the tacking station positions to familiarise themselves with all the requirements for tacking a tall ship. On completion we rolled into overnight watches in relatively calm conditions…but I’ll let White Watch tell you more. Until tomorrow…fair winds, Captain Kenny……..
Day 4: What are we doing here? Drifting in the middle of the ocean, surrounded by sea dogs that smell worse and worse every day. Two 90 second washes a day are they kidding? I got up at 0500 this morning, others weren’t so lucky, Nick had watch from 0100-0200 and Gabby had watch from 0200-0300. The crew are beginning to tire out quicker, these longer working hours are certainly taking their toll on our youth crew. Thank god we we’re at anchor in the beautiful bay of Great Keppel Island. As we’d already had our journey to shore the day before, we had a quick dip into the turquoise water via rope swing off the boat as well as through a leap of faith over the bow sprint. It was certainly enough to liven the spirits of the crew. Even our old mate Captain Kenny made an Olympic level dive off the starboard side. Just after lunch, Young Endeavour left the bay to resume its 11 day voyage to Brisbane. With the promise of another island stop the next day, the crew heaved and hauled ropes and sails to set us on our course to Heron Island.
Watches commenced throughout the evening, our first watch was instigated to be from 1800-2000, our second would be from 0400-0800, by then we should have our next destination in our sights.
Nick, along with many others, constantly mention their desire to see their families again, time away from home hits hard as the voyage grows longer.
White watch is becoming quite the family, its good to see that we all get along and genuinely care about the other members. We all seem to share well in our workloads and its quite becoming to see the support some of our more confident members give to our wallflowers when it comes to tacking positions. Everyone seems to have a go at everything.
I won’t forget Chef Marcus’s food, especially the cookie’s and cream cheese cake. Nor will I forget these people, they’ve been home for me these past few days, through thick and thin, and sick and health.
Signing off, hopefully not for the last time,
Emily Frost, Gabrielle Taylor and Nick Kimber of White Watch onboard the STS Young Endeavour
Latitude/Longitude:
Conditions:
Wind: NE at 12 knots Weather: Fine and Clear Swell: E at 0.5m Location: Enroute Heron Island
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ARRRGH, ahoy there from the spectacular Jervis Bay! We’ve all been taken A-back by the crystal clear blue waters and snow white sands.
After a well deserved sleep in these sheltered waters which was a refreshing change to clinging to our bunk racks for dear life for the past few days, the ship rose to another banger of a morale tune “sung” by Blue Watch. Brekkie was fun after the early morning activity to get us all up and moving. We held another round of competitive not-competitive rope races which culminated in smashed eggs on deck and the mummification of said egg smashers.
Roast lamb for lunch was prepped by the staffies in the absence of our culinary wizard Steve. Once cleaned up, we took the RHIB’s across to Captains Beach bordering HMAS Creswell which was a mind-blowingly beautiful little spot. Pretty much everyone had a dip in the drink and a roll in the sand and played some creative beach games run by our Suitability legends, Speedy Sam and Eggs.
A few hours at the beach made everyone ready to head back home and attack a teak deck barbeque, devouring cheese platters, steaks, sangas, and salads. With our full stomachs, us youthies initiated the highly anticipated elections for our command day roles. Which will commence sometime around midday tomorrow. We held a vote for each available role that all willing youthies put themselves forward for.
The following roles were voted as follows: Captain – Warwick, Sailmaster – Hugh, Navigator – Ruscoe, Officer of the Watch – Dan, Watch Leader – Nick, Ben, Bridget, Master chef – Emily, Mackenzie, Alyshia
We were greeted after our elections by a low flying anti-submarine MH60-Romeo Helicopter which did a cool fly around our ship. *Thanks Squizz!!* And then watched an amazing film about the rounding of Cape Horn back in 1929 on a 7 story tall sail ship.
Signing off from our anchor watch, Ben and Giles.
“I believe that positive energy and optimism help us to take up any challenge in life and to succeed in even the most difficult tasks. I also believe that positive energy is contagious: We can transmit it to others”


After a rather nonchalant guts watch with the Bluies, Reddies came in guns a blazing, setting our beautiful square sails preparing us for a speedy and eventful day at sea. Scaling (laying aloft) the Foremast, whilst the ship swayed kept the Reddies on their toes, holding on for dear life as they let out the gaskets for the Topgallant and Topsail Yards. A challenging activity to start off our day rewarded with a beautiful sunrise over Starboard.
During the day we participated in a Meteorology Brief led by our resident Nav guru TOMO, learning everything there is about fluffy, rainy and stormy clouds. This was followed by Lunch and a needed Siesta.
Whilst some slumbered, Bluies kept watch. They had brave volunteers to climb both main mast and to the topgallant yard to sea furl the sails.
In the afternoon, our Watches came together to have Mid Voyage Chats, where we had the opportunity to reflect on our voyage goals, experiences and discuss our hopes for Command Day. There were some very heartfelt talks, from overcoming fears, to gaining confidence in working as a team, and we set our eyes upon what we want to achieve in the rest of the voyage.
The first dog (Reddies) (from 1545 to 1745) was full of excitement, with over 50kn winds and up to 50 degrees on the OOOH AAAH meter (heel). Watching the waves break higher than the rails was an exhilarating experience and kept us holding on tight. Sites of sharks and a Cargo ship kept our lookouts entertained, while Callum lead an engaging activity on Charts. At the end of the first dog watch, Nick and Phil braved these treacherous conditions to lay aloft on the mainmast to wrangle the mainsail!
Rockin and rolling, Youthies (the newest salty sea dogs) Hugh, Bridget, and Nick!!